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Getting a job requires more than a degree

`A university diploma is no longer a ticket to a job.'

Criticizing educational

reforms has become fashionable. People blame the decline of higher education on what they see as a flawed policy of setting up a large number of colleges and universities nationwide. Although the overflow of college and higher degrees can reduce the value of such diplomas, the problem that affects their value lies in the impact of market competition under globalization, as well as the public's discordant understanding of higher education.

In the era when higher educational institutes were still rare -- no matter what the academic quality of our teachers and students was -- college degrees seemed precious because international talent exchanges were seldom seen at the time. Today, the myth that higher education guarantees or monopolizes better job opportunities has been broken. It's more common for people with degrees to be unemployed or take posts that don't fully utilize their skills. This is exactly a great opportunity for us to resume the norm of free competition.

In fact, a certain kind of labor will become popular if it's highly welcomed by industries, or even considered quite rare. If one's major violates "market correctness," than a person is merely a "high-class talent" in name only, even though that person may have earned a master's or doctorate. The frequent global exchanges of talent may also lead to another kind of devaluation of diplomas -- unless Taiwan wants to isolate itself economically.

Besides, apart from enhancing a person's future competitiveness in the workplace, the main function of college education is to develop "whole persons" who are understanding and reasonable. Take the UK for example. "Multi-versities" are responsible for cultivating leadership talent who will be capable of management positions in the future, while technology and vocational schools are responsible for cultivating technical laborers who can throw themselves into production immediately after graduation.

Taiwan's vocational schools, universities of science and technology and "multiversities" are not substantially different. All of these schools are labeled as institutes of higher education. But they do not provide the same workplace competitiveness. If a graduate with a college or higher degree is unwilling to take a lower-level job simply because he or she has a degree, that person may be quite ignorant of the trend of the times. This will not solve his or her problem when seeking employment.

A university diploma is no longer a ticket to a job. Perhaps the meaning of such a diploma merely lies in self-expectation: those who stop learning will soon face the pressure of being discarded. On the other hand, as more and more high-class talents are taking lower-level posts today, maybe this also means that the quality of Taiwan's overall manpower has been improved if we view this from a macroscopic perspective.

Are those high-class talents who have been unable to put their learning to use willing to develop multiple specialties? Are those who are taking lower-level jobs, apart from complaining about the unbalanced market supply and demand, willing to strive for innovation and generate selling points at their current posts -- to prove that they are truly high-class talent -- and win back more rewards and better job opportunities?

Chang Chi-yu is an associate professor in the department of applied English at Ming Chuan University.

TRANSLATED BY EDDY CHANG
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